Female candidates found success at the polls in Virginia’s Tuesday primary, notching wins in five Democratic primary races.
Abigail Spanberger beat Dan Ward in the 7th District Democratic Primary, which includes parts of Chesterfield and Henrico, and Vangie Williams defeated two challengers in the 1st District, which includes Hanover County.
Democrats had already chosen Leslie Cockburn as their nominee in the 5th District, which stretches from Fauquier County to the North Carolina line.
In total, six Democratic nominees on the ballot this fall will be women. Here’s a look at some of Tuesday’s results.
10th District
State Sen. Jennifer Wexton, D-Loudoun, won a six-person primary to become the nominee against Rep. Barbara Comstock, a Republican.
Gov. Ralph Northam has endorsed Wexton on the Democratic side; Democrats are hoping to flip the seat in this district that runs from Fairfax and Loudoun counties, west to Winchester.
Wexton thanked her supporters in a statement but said the work is just beginning.
“We are now on a mission to bring real representation to Northern Virginia and to remove Barbara Comstock from office,” she said. “Barbara Comstock has worked to strip health care from millions of Americans, proudly touts her A rating from the NRA, and is so out of touch with this district that she hides from her constituents and has never held a single town hall.”
The other Democratic hopefuls were Alison Friedman, a State Department official during the Obama administration; Julia Biggins, an infectious disease scientist; Lindsey Davis Stover, a small-business owner who served as a senior adviser at the Department of Veterans Affairs in the Obama administration; Dan Helmer, an Army veteran and business strategist; and Paul Pelletier, who spent 27 years as a federal prosecutor.
Comstock defeated GOP primary challenger Shak Hill, a former Air Force pilot and longtime financial planner.
2nd District
In the Democratic primary in this Virginia Beach-anchored district, retired Navy officer Elaine Luria, who had the backing of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, beat Karen Mallard, a public school teacher. She will face first-term Republican Rep. Scott Taylor.
“From the beginning of this campaign I have said that I felt called to continue the public service that I began in the Navy by running to be a representative who will always put our community and our country first,” Luria said in a statement. “Our work is not done until we fix the chaos in Washington and replace people like Congressman Taylor, who have voted to raise our health care costs, voted to expose our coasts to offshore drilling, and failed to find solutions for the families in our community.”
On the Republican side, Taylor easily defeated primary challenger Mary Jones, a former chairwoman of the James City County Board of Supervisors.
Taylor is high on the list of Republican incumbents Democrats hope to unseat in the midterm election this November.
6th District
Anti-corruption Democrat and mental health worker Jennifer Lewis emerged the winner in a four-person primary in the district, which includes Roanoke, Lynchburg and much of the Shenandoah Valley.
She beat Sergio Coppola, a James Madison University graduate; Charlotte Moore, a former Roanoke County supervisor; and urban planner Peter Volosin, who had the backing of several Democratic state lawmakers.
The Republican nominee, already chosen by convention, is state Del. Ben Cline of Rockbridge.
9th District
In Southwest Virginia, two Democrats competed in a primary; farmer Anthony Flaccavento defeated millennial Justin Santopietro for the chance to challenge Republican Rep. Morgan Griffith.
